Crunching Leaves
by Jay D. Moore
Summary: Harry reads his father's old journal one fall day, and gains some insight into his father's life, as well as his own. Mostly the more important moments of James' life, as he wasn't an avid journal keeper. Rated T for cursing.


**A/N: Yeah, short story for a little contest in /r/slytherin. But if you like it, it's for you too! Note: James starts out with bad grammar and writing skills because he is eleven, and he should improve as the story goes.  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

* * *

Harry sits, back to cool stone. There's a book, an old journal, open in his lap. It'd been his fathers, and he'd found it a few days prior, hidden in Grimmwauld Place. He took a deep breath, staring at his father's name, carved into the old leather. Then he opened it.

* * *

 **Date: 1971**

 _We just got off the train. Yeah, we. I made some friends. 'Course, they'll never know about this dumb thing._

 _It's silly for a boy to keep a journal. But mum thinks it'll help me out with my first year at Hogwarts, and she keeps saying something about making memories._

 _It's all silly, really, because when I'm a famous Chaser I won't even NEED memories._

 _I'll just pick up one of my jillions of biographies and read that._

 _Anyway, I met these three other boys, Sirius Black (I heard his mum was a blood purest, but he seems alright), Remus Lupin, and this sort of dorky guy, Peter Pettigrew._

 _Anyway, we're all hoping for Gryffindor, but Sirius figures he'll end up in Slytherin like his brother. Peter's probably gonna be a Hufflepuff, and Remus could be a Ravenclaw. He's smart. I think I'll end up in Gryffindor, but I hope at least one of them is too. I think they're pretty cool._

 _Anyway, we're almost to the school. This big fellow rowed us all the way across the lake. It's a shame, though, no one fell in._

 _(I said that out loud and Sirius laughed, then pointed out some greasy haired boy and said a dip would do him good. Ha!)_

* * *

Harry sighed, a little bothered by the books contents thus far. He'd grown to accept that his father had been flawed. Very. But reliving it? It felt odd, to say the least, but Harry continued to read none-the-less. It felt like something he needed to do, to finally see things from his father's perspective.

* * *

 **Date: After the sorting!**

 _The sorting was so cool. You wouldn't BELIEVE. This old lady lined us all up and called us up one at a time, which was dull, but the hat sang first, which was awesome._

 _Oh! Me and the others all got Gryffindor after all! Sirius looked so shocked, it was actually sort of sweet, but don't let him know I thought so, or he might try and jinx me._

 _We've already learned four from some sixth years. And two of them actually do something! Not what they are supposed to, but hey._

 _Anyway, when we were eating I saw this girl. Red hair, green eyes. Super pretty, you know? But Sirius said I shouldn't date her, because I could do way better._

 _I don't know, that Evans girl is pretty nice looking. But she hangs out with that greasy Slytherin kid. Sniffle-us or something. Hey, Snivelus. Not bad._

 _Anyway, she might be with him. Which is gross. But if that's true, Sirius might be right. I could definitely do better than someone who'd want to date that boy.  
_

 _Anyway, I gotta go. Some fourth years are making a plant explode, and they said they'd give me five galleo_ ns _if I'd keep watch for them. Probably won't write in here much more, so bye!_

* * *

 **Date: 1972, Fall**

 _Hey, I haven't actually written in this thing in a year, have I? Well, I'm twelve now, which is neat. I'm definitely way cooler than I was last year._

 _Sirius is probably my best mate, if I had to choose. Remus is great and all, but he's too much of a mother hen. And Peter's just a wuss._

 _We came up with a name for ourselves. The Marauders. Sounds cool, huh? We're always up to no good, according to... well... all the professors, just about. And our parents. And... everyone._

 _I jinxed that Snape kid last year. A tiny little practice spell, totally harmless._

 _He cried. Can you believe it? CRIED. Now he's hanging with this rough looking bunch, and even Evans doesn't seem as cool around him. Good thing too, he's rotten._

 _Evans doesn't like me much either though. She's taken to calling me toerag, which is totally unnecessary, but still way funnier than 'swine', which is what Snivelus calls me._

 _Lily's pretty, but she's got her head in the wrong place. I think she'll come around, though. At least she had the mind to keep away from Snape.  
_

 _Snape really hates us, you know. He hasn't stopped since we got off the damn train, first year. But it's fine and all, he's not that good at doing hexes, just making them, and I'm perfectly good at casting them. Mostly little things, like knotted laces to make him trip._

 _It's all for laughs. We'd never try and hurt him.  
_

* * *

 **Date: 1972, winter-ish**

 _HOLY HELL. Something super awesome- and a little terrible- happened today._ _Remus showed us what's been making him act all weird, which was pretty cool, but he was pretty embarrassed about it._

 _I told him he was still normal and still my friend, and the others agreed, though Peter seemed sort've squirmy._

 _Then again, he's always sort've squirmy, isn't he?_

 _I think we're gonna try to surprise Remus by becoming animingi eventually. It'd be pretty cool._

* * *

 **Date:**  
 _Sirius fucked up royally. Telling Snape how to get into the Shack, what the hell. He could've ruined Remus' life with that stunt._

 _Not to mention he'd have KILLED someone. I don't care if Snape's a brat, that's not alright at all._

 _Remus wouldn't have ever forgiven himself if he'd hurt anyone, even that little jerk._

 _I pulled him back in time, talked him into leaving. He certainly wasn't grateful for it, but the little shit didn't really know why he ought to be, did he?_

 _Anyway, Sirius is sulking because I hit him in the nose._

* * *

 **Date: 1975**

 _I finally did it._

 _Remus looked so surprised when I showed up to the Shack and changed. The boys are all calling me Prongs now, which is pretty neat._

 _Lily still hasn't come around, but I think she might soon. At least she doesn't seem to absolutely hate me anymore._

 _Things are getting sort of grim outside of school. Sirius' parents are terrible, and I'm trying to talk mum into letting him come live with us. It'd be better._

 _A few wizards have just vanished off the face of the Earth. It's you-know-who, I know that._

 _It's something to freak anyone out, knowing we're growing up in a world at war._

 _And they keep asking us what we're going to be, like there are many choices left._

* * *

 **Date: 1976**

 _Siri moved in this summer. I finally wore mum down on it. The whole family adores him, possibly more than me._

 _Lily's still not into me like that, I don't think, but that's okay, because she seems to at least tolerate me. I don't think I wore her down though. I think I might just be different than I was._

 _I rarely hex anyone other than Snape, but that's a mutual hate. He's hot for Lily, but he called her a mudblood a bit back, so I don't think she cares for him all that much._

 _I hate him._

 _Lily's perfect, he shouldn't be allowed to upset her like that._

 _Oh, and you-know-who is getting stronger. Everyone is frightened._

* * *

 **Date: 1977**

 _Lily and I have begun to date. It's odd, finally getting to be with her. I've loved her a lot longer than she's loved me._

 _Would you be interested in knowing when I first realized it was love? I was sitting there, about two days before she finally said yes to me, and I heard crunching in the leaves. I looked up, you know, and there she was, watching me curiously. I couldn't quite process her expression, but she was lovely. Her hair was tousled a bit in the fall breeze, her scarf only half wrapped. Her cheeks were pink, making her eyes stand out even more than usual. She was perfect._

 _I don't know if she's as in love with me as I am her, but I'm happy with what we have. Mooney and Wormtail seem happy enough for us, too, but I don't know if Padfoot likes her._

 _I got head boy. Pretty neat. Mum's proud. I'm a bit sad, though. It's my last year in Quidditch, of course, as well as Hogwarts._

 _I'll miss it here. I've made a lot of friends and memories._

 _But hey, I've got a lot of life ahead of me, and Halloween's coming up. It's my favorite holiday aside from Christmas._

 _Fall's a pretty good month in whole, I think. Some of my best memories are set around the season._

 _Oh, and I definitely could not, ever, do any better than Lily Evans. Anyway, got a date, later._

 _(Oh, me and Sirius sort of scuffled with some Death Eaters, I think. We were in a motorbike chase with the muggle police and they attacked us. We might've hit them with the police car.)_

* * *

 **Date: 1978**

 _We've married, Lily and I, and things are going well._

 _It wasn't a big wedding, just the Order, but no one does big weddings anymore, and we especially try to avoid that type of thing._

 _We've likely pissed you-know-who off, since we turned down his 'invitation' to join him, but it's no matter. We've joined the Order. All of us have._

 _I'm helping keep Remus afloat right now, since his werewolf problem is now public, and no one will hire him._

 _It's stupid. He's a damn good man, and a damn hard worker, but people just can't see past the disease._

 _The war's being bad to all of us, but at least we have each other right now. We're a tight knit group. Family, even without the blood._

* * *

 **Date: 1979**

 _Lily's pregnant!_

 _We've been talking for a while, and we think we'll call him Harry if he's a boy. I hope he's a boy. Lily wants to name him after her SISTER if he's not. Petunia Potter. Ugh._

 _It's pretty amazing, though._

 _Lily and Alice Longbottom are both expecting at the same time. I hope our kids can end up friends, the Longbottoms are good people. The best. Their kid'll be a good one, if there ever was one._

* * *

 **Date: 31 July, 1980**

 _A boy._

 _I only cried for a few seconds._

 _Sirius has been named Godfather. Harry already adores him._

 _Dumbledore- my old headmaster- has already contacted the Order to tell Lily and I that we're in danger. We'll have to go into hiding soon. With a secret keeper and everything._

 _I hope you-know-who gets his soon, so that my son can have a good childhood. He doesn't deserve to have to live through a war like this._

 _No child does._

* * *

 **Date: 1981**

 _We did the Fidelius charm._

 _Had to, after what happened to Alice and Frank. Poor Neville. When everything's safe, I'll be sure he and Harry become friends.  
_

 _Anyhow, Peter's our secret keeper, and Sirius is a decoy._

 _Things are pretty grim around here lately, but we're still hoping to give Harry a good Halloween this year._

 _I hope he loves fall and Halloween as much as I did when I was a boy._

 _It's odd, talking like that. I'm not much older than a boy now, really._

 _Anyway, I think I'm going to give this book to Sirius for safe keeping. There's a few things in here that no one else ought to know._

* * *

 **Date: 30 October, 1981**

 _I feel oddly tense. Sirius is dropping by today with a gift for Harry, and I'll give him this to hide then._

 _Albus took my invisibility cloak the other day, said he had to examine it for something. Odd man, that one._

 _Harry's such a happy boy, zooming around on his miniature broom. He's great at catching chocolate snitches. Boy's destined to be a great seeker. I can't wait to see him off to school._

 _We've got some candy for him, since he can't actually trick-or-treat. Lot's of stuff that a kid will enjoy, as well as some spooky cartoons._

 _Anyway, I don't know when I'll write in this again. Travel is getting dangerous lately. Hell, everything is._

 _I hear Sirius' motorbike, so goodbye for now. Let's hope this all ends soon._

* * *

Harry slowly sat the book down, taking a slow breath. It ended there, just like that. He leaned his head back, eyes closed. He knew that his father had died the very next night, his mother following him.

He knew that not a single soul escaped that era whole, just like none escaped his own era whole.

James was right. No child should have had to grow up in that.

* * *

Harry ached, a bit, the kind of ache that doesn't go away. It was cool outside, nearly November. Harry wasn't sure he could handle Halloween after reading that.

He looked up when he heard leaves crunching. Someone was running towards him

* * *

It was Ginny. She seemed worried as she tushed towards him, her school scarf still wound around her neck. She stopped a few feet away, watching him warily. She was still wearing her school robes, too.

They'd only just let out for the holidays, Harry realized. Sometimes he forgot that Ginny was a seventh year. Harry had, after all, started at the Auror's office instead of finishing his.

Anyway, there she was. Her hair was slightly messier than usual, her cheeks flushed, probably from running up the hill. Harry wondered what she'd seen that had worried her so. Him, lying among the leaves, head back and eyes shut. What did that image make her see?

Harry hated war. Nothing ought to upset Ginny like that, ever. Especially him.

Something seemed to click into place for Harry, who stood and grabbed Ginny's hands, pulling her close.

"This may not be the best time to say it, Ginny, but I think I might be in love with you."

Ginny stared at him for a moment, and then she smiled, softly.

"Come on, Harry, let's go back to the Burrow. Mum's making a stew."

Harry nodded, bending to pick up his father's journal. He hesitated a moment, and then left it there, at the base of the stone he'd been leaning against. James Potters' headstone.

Then he and Ginny walked away, hands clasped, and all was silent but for the crunching of the leaves.


End file.
